Interseroh Cooperates with Aldi and Becomes More International
Aldi has agreed on a strategic partnership with Interseroh+ GmbH starting in January 2022. At FACHPACK, Interseroh presented its “Made for Recycling” service offering, which has now been extended to the international market.
Aldi is replacing its packaging license service provider after one year with EKO-Punkt. To gain better access to recycled raw materials, the discounter is entering into a strategic partnership with the dual system Interseroh+. “This is a strategically important step for us,” explains Kashif Ansari, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Aldi Nord. “With Interseroh+, we have found a strong partner in the licensing business and material flow management. Access to secondary raw materials opens up new business areas for us and brings us independence.” To this end, he said, the company is intensifying the control function between retailers, recyclers and the manufacturers of packaging and products that is desired by politicians and the recycling industry.
For example, from January 2022, the packaging of Aldi Nord’s and Aldi Süd’s own brands will flow into the Interseroh+ dual system. However, this is only to be the first step. “With this strategic partnership, we want to fulfill our product responsibility and ensure a true circular economy in the future. Interseroh+ can draw on a great deal of experience in the licensing business and offers a new concept for securing secondary raw material requirements and closing loops. This combination of experience and innovation convinced us,” says Alexander Markov, Managing Director Logistics & Services at Aldi Süd. Further topics such as packaging design and packaging innovations are planned together with Interseroh+.
Test method for recyclability
At the FACHPACK, Interseroh presented its expanded “Made for Recycling” service offering. Customers want to know whether their packaging can be recycled to the same high quality in France or Italy, for example, as in Germany, explained Markus Müller-Drexel, Managing Director of Interseroh Dienstleistungs GmbH. “With the internationalization of our scientifically based packaging analysis, we will be able to support companies even better in the future in developing sustainable and resource-saving packaging solutions for their sales markets.”
The “Made for Recycling” testing method is established in Germany as the standard for recyclable packaging. The experts examine not only the materials and design of the packaging, but also its actual sortability and recyclability, which depends heavily on the technical infrastructure on site. The international packaging analysis has been validated by the bifa Umweltinstitut and the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV and is initially available for Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Spain and the UK. With the “Made for Recycling” seal, manufacturers can also show their customers that they value a functioning circular economy and take responsibility for climate and resource protection, according to Interseroh.
